The legend of Angkor Wat - Siem Reap - TravBuddy

In the year 544 of the Buddhist era, year of the Monkey, Nhek Vong and Neang Teav, a couple of plebeian ancestry, with divine merits, acceded to throne of the kingdom. The king took the name Preah Bat Samdech Tevavong Aschar, which means Magnificent Monarch of Divine Descent. He reigned from the royal palace of Mohanokor or Grand City. Because of the great merits and power of its sovereigns, the country lived in peace and no enemies dared attack the kingdom.

When the royal couple remained childless, the king ordered the queen to observe the Buddhist precepts to obtain a child. After 7 days of observance, the queen dreamed that Lord Indra, the supreme ruler of the Gods, descended from the heaven, touched her abdomen and offered her a garland of flowers.

The king consulted a diviner to explain the dream.

"The queen will receive a son of such might that he will conquer all his enemies," the diviner predicted. Soon thereafter, the queen became pregnant and nine months later, a son of astonishing beauty was born - who in his previous life was the son of Lord Indra himself. Lord Indra had sent him to be reincarnated as a human being to "protect the Buddhist religion and take care of the kingdom in glory, prosperity and peace."

The king gave his son the name Ketomealea or Shining Garland of Flowers. When Ketomealea reached the age of six, Lord Indra sent the Deity Meatoley with his golden chariot Pichayon to earth to bring Ketomealea to the heaven of the thirty-three Gods on top of the sacred mountain Sumeru.

King Teavong-Aschar and the queen were very worried about the disappearance of their son the next morning. They immediately summoned a diviner to perform magic calculations. The diviner prophesied:

"To obtain your august son back, the only requirement is that the people, the mandarins, the Brahmans in the entire country observe the Buddhist precepts during seven days. Thereupon you will find the august child back in the palace."

The king ordered the entire Cambodian people to observe all Buddhist precepts during seven days to obtain the return of his son. The entire Cambodian population abide by these instructions of the king.

Lord Indra instructed Ketomealea in the ten royal duties and bathed him seven times per day in the magic water in a perfumed pond in his garden during seven days. He then called upon Brahman diviners to chant magic spells and sprinkle blissful water ensuring Ketomealea a life of more than 100 years.

After these rituals, Lord Indra sent Ketomealea to survey his celestial palaces with the chariot Pichayon and admire them in all their beauty. When Ketomealea had admired the fantastic palaces, Lord Indra probed for Ketomealea's liking of all this splendour.

"Did you like these palaces ?"
"Your palaces are marvellous," Ketomealea replied.

"I will give you the Kingdom of Cambodia to rule with wisdom," Lord Indra, the supreme sovereign of Gods, promised Ketomealea. "If one of the palaces you have seen is to your liking, I will have one built of the same beauty in Cambodia. I will immediately send an architect to build you one," He continued as they were returning the horses of the chariot to the stables.

Ketomealea feared Indra's wrath if he asked for a palace as beautiful as one of Lord Indra's.

"I would like a palace as beautiful as your stables," the young prince replied, impressed even by the magnificence of the divine stables.

Lord Indra then called Pisnouka, the celestial artist and architect. Pisnouka was the son of the celestial Apsara Tip-Choda-Chan, "Devine daughter of the Moon" and of the aged Lim Seng. His mother had sent him in heaven to a God who was master in fine arts and architecture for study.

"You are from human descent, therefore you cannot stay in heaven forever," Lord Indra told Pisnouka. "I will send you to Cambodia, where you will build a palace for my son, as beautiful as my stables. When you complete its construction, I will descend from heaven to preside over the coronation ceremony of my son to enthrone him."

Meatoley brought Ketomealea back to Cambodia. King Tevavong Aschar and the queen were delighted with the return of their son, seven days after his disappearance. They praised the merits of the population who had followed the Buddhist precepts during seven days.

Pisnouka started the construction of the palace of Angkor Wat and when he completed it, he painted all bas-reliefs in appropriate colours so that the palace resembled the stables of the palace of Lord Indra. Ketomealea was very satisfied with Pisnouka's skills and requested him to build many others, equally decorated with superb bas-reliefs.

Lord Indra, the Supreme Sovereign came down from heaven in the company of numerous other Deities for the coronation ceremony of his son and gave him the name Arittha Polapea Hano, Mighty Destructor of Enemies. It was also then that Lord Indra gave the name Kampuchea to our beloved Khmer country and that is how it still is called today.

This is the legend about how Angkor Wat was built. Pisnouka built many other temples for Ketomealea.

This legend of course disagrees with archaeologists about the date of origin of the temple for roughly a millennium. Moreover, it was not built for Buddhist devotion but for Hindu worship. We will not speculate about these discrepancies, but we expect that Cambodian mythology may be as important for understanding the Cambodian's soul as ancient Greek mythology is to the western soul.

The stone buildings that testify of a glorious kingdom were used for religious worship. Kings probably lived in wooden structures as is customary in Cambodia, but these structures obviously did not last through time.